At the time of
posting this @ 04.25 pm, India are 190/3 – Dhoni just got out – honestly did
not expect that this series would become 2-2 and a decided will be played here
at Visakhapatnam (popularly Vizag), located on the coast of Bay of Bengal in the
north eastern region of the state of Andhra. The city was ruled by Andhra Kings of Vengi
and Pallavas. The city is named after Sri Vishaka Varma. The British captured
Visakhapatnam after the 1804 Battle of Vizagapatam, and it remained under
British colonial rule until India's independence in 1947 which was a part of
the Northern Circars. Part of the city
is known by its colonial British name, Waltair; during the colonial era, the
city's hub was the Waltair railway station and the surrounding part of the city
is still called Waltair.

Nearer is another
historic place with - Nagavali, Vegavathi, Gomukhi, Suvarnamukhi, Champavathi
and Gosthani rivers flowing through. The 5th ODI is on (no. 3780) at
VDCA Cricket stadium, Visakhapatnam – and before I could move on, Manish Pandey
got out in a silly fashion without opening his account. The stadium has ends named as : Vizzy End, DV Subba Rao End. Today, offspinner Jayant Yadav is making his
debut replacing Hardik Pandya in India's
line-up, while fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who missed the fourth ODI, coming back
into the side in place of Dhawal Kulkarni.

The city
that has so many rivers is Vizianagaram, once ruled by different Hindu emperors of Kalinga. The area including Srikakulam in the north was
integral part of the domain of Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi during the rule of
Kubja Vishnuvardhana (624- 641). During his rule the Vengi kingdom expanded from Srikakulam in the north to
Nellore in the south. They patronised Telugu. Later the areas were under the
rule of Kakatiya Dynasty of Warangal. There was the rule of illustrious Krishna Deva Raya too.
During last century, the area was a part
of British – Northern Circars. One
important event is te Bobbili yuddam fought between the MahaRaja of
Vizianagaram and the Rajah of Bobbili in 1757. Rulers of this princely state belonged
to the Pusapati family.

Lieutenant-Colonel
Sir Vijay Ananda Gajapathi Raju [1905-1965] famously Maharajkumar of Vizianagram or Vizzy, an administrator
and politician, played Cricket too. Vizzy
was the second son of Pusapati Vijaya Rama Gajapathi Raju, the ruler of
Vizianagaram. He had the title
Maharajkumar (prince) – and he married
the eldest daughter of the ruler of the zamindari estate of Kashipur.

Vizzy organised his
cricket team in 1926 and constructed a ground in his palace compounds. He
recruited players from India and abroad. When MCC cancelled the tour of India
in 1930–31 owing to political problems, he organised a team of his own and
toured India and Ceylon – a la, Indian Premier League of last century. He
succeeded in drafting Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe for the team. He could not make it to the first tour to
England but was named the Captain for the 1936 tour of England, and there are some references to lobbying and
not cricketing reasons. The team
reportedly was divided and there were some controversies too, the one involving
Lala Amarnath, much spoken about. Though
India lost the series, Vizzy was knighted.
Vizzy was to later renounce his knighthood
in July 1947. He played 3 tests in that
tour aggregating 33 runs.

The
Women’s Selection Committee on Saturday announced the squads for West Indies
Women’s Tour of India for three ODIs and three Twenty 20 matches and Asia Cup
Women’s Championship 2016. .. .. to get back the names at the start are not
those of Women Cricket players, but the names one can read on the jerseys of
Indian players. Yes, members of the
Indian cricket team are sporting a different style of jerseys - Instead of the usual customary practice of
wearing their last names on the back of the shirt – as is the trend across the
world and in multiple sports – the team is wearing the names of their mothers as a tribute to an
important member of the family which doesn’t get as much attention as the
father does. Speaking about it at the
toss, MS Dhoni said, “We are quite used to having the
surnames from the Dad’s side, and what’s important is to appreciate the stuff
that Mothers have done for us. It’s a very emotional connect and it’s good that
it is put on a public platform. I would like to request the whole of India
keeps this in mind every day and appreciate them everyday.”

That film M Kumaran
is all about hero’s love and adulation for his mother, who lives separated from
her husband due to differences in their
priorities in life. As could be read from the title, the hero has the name of
mother (M Kumaran, s/0 of Mahalakshmi) and not that of father.